Citation Manuals and Guides

The Modern Language Association takes a fresh look at documenting sources in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. Previous editions provided separate instructions for each format. In this new edition, the MLA recommends instead one universal set of guidelines, which writers can apply to any type of source.

The Chicago Manual is a comprehensive style manual used throughout the U.S. publishing world, perhaps more comprehensive than most college students need, but containing much useful advice on matters of punctuation, capitalization, and word choice as well as on the documentation of sources.

Writing Center Resources for Writers

Resources "that address questions about using and documenting sources; avoiding plagiarism; writing in the disciplines; grammar, style, and punctuation; and other aspects of writing."

Composing Annotated Bibliographies

As the name suggests, an annotated bibliography is a bibliography, but one that includes a brief summary and assessment of each resource. In assessing resources, you want to comment not only on their quality, but also on how they fit into your own argument.

For more information on constructing annotated bibliographies, see these two excellent guides:

Citation Manager

Zotero: The Tri-College Libraries recommend Zotero, a free online app that can format your bibliography, keep your citations organized, and even save your articles in the cloud so you can access them later from the library, home, or a café.